Iran busts terrorist group in southeast border region

Iran has busted a terrorist group which intended to carry out acts of terror in different cities across the country, a senior commander says.

Commander of Iran's Border Police Brigadier General Qassem Rezaei said on Saturday that a group of border guards were dispatched to the Mirjaveh border region in Sistan-Baluchestan Province on Friday afternoon to keep a watchful eye on the routes in the area after it was reported that a terrorist group wanted to cross the border into Iran from Pakistan.

The border forces engaged in clashes with the terrorists early on Saturday and managed to smash the terror group, the commander told a press conference in the provincial capital city of Zahedan.

“In this operation, a number of terrorists were killed and three others were arrested, one of whom sustained injuries,” the commander said.

Rezaei added that two of the detained terrorists are Pakistani nationals.

He said that the terrorist group, which was trained by foreign spy agencies, was equipped with different types of weapons and explosives to carry out terrorist attacks in different cities in Iran, but the terrorists were arrested on the zero point border with Pakistan.

According to the commander, a number of militants fled to the Pakistani territory but Iranian forces managed to seize weapons, ammunition and explosives from them.

An Iranian border guard also succumbed to injuries on the way to the hospital.

The arrested terrorists confessed that they wanted to carry out terror attacks in certain cities including Zahedan, Kerman and Bam, the commander said, adding that they intended to explode several explosive-laden cars in public places.

The commander said the terrorists were trained in Pakistan, calling for the government in Islamabad to take tough measures against the issue.

Iran has repeatedly called on its eastern neighbors to rein in terrorists who cross the borders to carry out terror attacks on the Iranian soil.

In February 2013, Iran and Pakistan signed a security agreement, under which both countries agreed to cooperate in preventing and combating organized crime and fight against terrorism and activities posing a threat to national security of the two counties.